********* Quoting Geniuses Willy Nilly

What's going on?

[Fruit and Veg]

I read this article yesterday - imediaconnection.com/content/features/111703d.asp - that slimeball with the cheesy smile opens with a Goethe quote.

Today, this guy closes with a Nietzsche quote -
mediapost.com/dtls_dsp_Spin.cfm?spinID=226998

Are these advertising 'Geniuses' meant to impress us with their knowledge, or with their ability to search the interweb for a random quote to help beef up their innane ramblings?

Strangely enough, this guy came into our office on Monday to talk about some pension stuff - he closed with an Einstein quote! I'm sick of it.

[Yidaki]

>he closed with an Einstein quote

LOL - a good way to stop this kind of geniuses (at least in a conversation) is to give them a really weird quote they'd sure don't know. Something like a funny quote from Donald Duck ... there are A LOT. :)

[lawman]

Funny that he started with "y'all" and ended with Nietzsche.

[ritualcoffee]

I detest that - it smells of posturing. BLAH!

I usually throw something inane back like...

well...the average raindrop falls at a rate of 7 miles per hour. Usually everyone with in hearing distance gets the fact that I'm usually making fun of the speaker for throwing in a quote that has little to do with anything. :)

[TheDoctor]

Strange thing is that the Goethe quote has nothing to do with what follows (although he is mentioned again in another context further down the page) and the Nietzche quote, while connected to what follows, obscurs what is being said.

I sometimes think that a friend from long ago was right, when she said that it was in bad taste to quote the dead.

[shasan]

I quote the dead all the time. I guess it's cuz I'm inspired by things some people have said, and I figure it may have the same effect on others.

certainly not a detestable activity :)

[lawman]

The dead - as in grateful [dead.net]?

[Sanenet]

Forget the quotes - what sort of person would use the word "instinctualizing" in cold blood?

Hey, whats a "sand dollar" anyway?

[iamlost]

Echinarachnius parma - the common sand dollar. Someone thought they looked like an overgrown silver dollar (4-5 inches in diameter) lying about the seashore.

ht*p://octopus.gma.org/Tidings/sanddollar.html

If they are dark they are alive. If they are light coloured they are dead and make great miniture frisbees for throwing at annoying pretentious columnists.

[Sanenet]

You live and learn! Thanks iamlost.

[panic]

I just don't see anything wrong with sharing insightful quotes.

-panic

"When searching for a homeless man...

don't look in a house."

-panic

[iamlost]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with sharing quotes, be they insightful, humourous, or just something that catches your fancy. I do it frequently.

The complaint, I believe (and which I support in the two columns referenced) was that the quotes had little to no bearing on the subject matter and should not have been included; that they obscured rather than illuminated the subject matter.

A germaine quote used correctly is like good poetry: a lot of truth in a short package. These were more like annoying flash pop-ups shouting "Hey look what I can do/know!" Unfortunately they make me say "Bad taste, goodbye!".

[panic]

A germaine quote used correctly is like good poetry: a lot of truth in a short package. These were more like annoying flash pop-ups shouting "Hey look what I can do/know!" Unfortunately they make me say "Bad taste, goodbye!".

The same could be said about blogs :D

-p

[iamlost]

panic: "The same could be said about blogs :D"

Blogs in bad taste? How dare you sir! Gossip, innuendo, back-stabbing, and soap operas are a necessity in the dumbing down of America. First America and then the world! Let mediocrity reign!

Noted exceptions, of course, are the literate, profound blogs maintained by WebmasterWorld members. :-)

[panic]

First America and then the world!

I don't wish that on any country :(